Happy Friday friends! My week has been jam packed full of work, overeating, my kids running me ragged and trying to tackle my endless pile of laundry. It never ends, am I right? The girls are out of school today so we are looking forward to a quiet morning but I have Mom plans tonight with my crew of girlfriends so its like Christmas morning for me. I dont get out with my gals very often due to busy life so I am totally looking forward to the laughs. My husband is getting more chickens in one of his farms so his Friday shall be chaotic, hey I offered my services to help him and he said no. He probably knows I would most likely complain too much. Guilty.

Today I am starting a new "series" that I have a penned, "10 ways to..." I will change the list up each time but I love making lists and so this will be fun. Since Fall is here and will be gone before we know it, I wanted to share 10 ways to Fall for Fall.!

1. Bake some snickerdoodles OR pumpkin anything (roll, cookies, bread, cake) Nothing says Fall like something freshly baked from the oven and for it to smell like cinnamon, nutmeg or clove. YUM! I made homeade snickerdoodles this past week and I will for sure be making them again soon! They were delish! Want to share a quick pumpkin dump cake recipe from my Mom with you as well. Super easy and quick!

Easy Pumpkin Dump Cake (With Cake Mix!)

Ingredients

29 ounces pumpkin puree Canned

3 eggs

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

¼ cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

15.25 ounces spice cake mix

½ cup butter melted

Pecans optional

Whipped cream optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.In a large bowl add pumpkin, eggs, sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, and pumpkin spice, Mix all ingredients together until smooth.Spread the pumpkin mixture evenly into the bottom of the baking dish.In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the cake mix and melted butter until the mixture until it looks like thick sand. Sprinkle the cake mix and butter mixture over the top of the pumpkin in the baking dish.Bake the pumpkin cake in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes until cooked through. The cake crumbles on top will turn a golden brown.Let the pumpkin cake to cool completely, at least thirty minutes..Then slice and serve. Top with chopped pecans, whipped cream and extra cinnamon if desired.

2- Pumpkin patch! This is a given but had to make my list. I love going for the food (are you surprised?), having small kids they of course love every minute and the one in our area has farm animals that always make me laugh, not to mention pig races. Adorable! Look for a patch near you and plan a visit! Make sure to wear your fall best aka a puffy vest, UGG boots, beanie and of course plaid!!

3- Decorate a pumpkin! This is the first year we didn't carve ours. Look carving is strictly up to the parent. How annoying right> Your kid wants a detailed black cat wearing a witch hat and you have to follow thru and make their vision come true? No! This year we painted pumpkins and I am never going back. Until my kids are old enough I trust them with a knife, we are going to paint them! I wasted alot of painful years scooping the nasty seeds and gunk and failing miserably at the pumpkin faces.

4- Buy some fall flavored coffee or creamer. Drink Hot Chocolate. I have been drinking a nutmeg and clove flavored and it's heavenly with a sugar cookie creamer or of course pumpkin spice. My go to coffee shop drink is a vanilla add pumpkin and its just the perfect amount of fall.

5- READ! I read year round but there is something that is so cozy to curl up in flannel jams with a fall flavored drink and a good book. This time of year check out a thriller. That is one of mt favorite genres anyways, I read a good one recently so stay tuned for my next book review!

6- Haunted House? Scary movies? Is this for you? We have a haunted house near us but I am just not a fan. I dont like to be scared. If I went, I guarantee, I would close my eyes and hold onto my husbands shirt the whole time. Nah I can think of better things to spend my money on. It would take 5 years off my life. We thought it would be fun to watch a classic scary movie with girls but they were all rated R so we couldnt really find a good option. We settled on the Sixth Sense because it was PG-13 and figured it was pretty harmless. I forgot even though its a great move, it is kind of slow. We may be on the lookout for one more to watch before Halloween. Any suggestions?

7- Apples! All things apples! I remember as kids, our Mom took us apple picking. That place has since shut down but it was a whole lot of fun! If you have one near you, do it! Then come home and make all the apple treats! Caramel Apples, apple fritters, apple butter! YUM!!!

8- Soups galore! I am all in for the comfort foods that come with colder weather. Some of my go to comfort foods would be chicken and dumplings, ritz cracker chicken and beef stew.

9- Attend a football game. Now here in Arkansas, the weather is unpredictable so the beginning of football season, you will probable be sweating but if you go to one later in season, to me that is football weather. Hoodie and beanie and a blanket to sit on and cheer for your favorite team!

10- Take some family fall pics! This time of year is great for getting some gorgeous pictures with the great fall colors. This is the best time also to get them done in time for those Christmas cards you might be mailing out soon!

Well that concludes this blog post "10 ways to..." Hope it inspired you to grab some pumpkin flavored and take a walk in the apple orchard or pumpkin patch in your cardigan! YOLO! Have a great weekend yall!! See ya back here next week!